Diet/Fitness advice
Discussion
Bit of help please.
I am 27, 5ft 11 and 11st 9lb, and my Body fat scales say about vary between 18.7% and 19.5%. I used to be 13st 2lb but went on a diet and upped my exercise from none to some.
Now, I although I am at an ideal weight I still have lots of fat around my body, mainly moobs and a smallish tyre around my waist. This is my diet and exercise plan at the moment:
Breakfast: 2 slices of Brown Toast and Beans or
Crunchy Nut Cornflakes or
2 slices of Brown Toast with an Omelette at weekends
Lunch: Sandwich - Usually Tuna salad or Houmous or Salmon. No Mayo or cheese
Low fat yoghurt
Summer fruits
Snacks: Fruit or the odd Go Ahead bar etc. (usually only once a week)
Dinner: carbs and meat, quite a variety at dinner, but pasta with chicken/ homemade curries
fish with veg. roughly about 700kcals per meal. Try not to have too much fat in it though.
Dinner is at 7pm, then nothing or just fruit till I sleep at 11pm.
Exercise: tues/thurs/sat - 10mins of HIIT on bike, 40 mins of weights, 25mins of jogging.
sun: 5 a side football for 90mins.
So basically I want to lose fat, increase muscle but dont really want to lose weight. I have been at constant weight for the last 3 weeks or so and my Body fat scales have come down from 20.9 - 21.2% to the aformentioned 18.7%. However visually my body looks the same.
Any tips or should I just carry on as I am. I should probably eat a bigger lunch and less for dinner however I'm a bit of a foodie as is the missus so it is hard.
I am 27, 5ft 11 and 11st 9lb, and my Body fat scales say about vary between 18.7% and 19.5%. I used to be 13st 2lb but went on a diet and upped my exercise from none to some.
Now, I although I am at an ideal weight I still have lots of fat around my body, mainly moobs and a smallish tyre around my waist. This is my diet and exercise plan at the moment:
Breakfast: 2 slices of Brown Toast and Beans or
Crunchy Nut Cornflakes or
2 slices of Brown Toast with an Omelette at weekends
Lunch: Sandwich - Usually Tuna salad or Houmous or Salmon. No Mayo or cheese
Low fat yoghurt
Summer fruits
Snacks: Fruit or the odd Go Ahead bar etc. (usually only once a week)
Dinner: carbs and meat, quite a variety at dinner, but pasta with chicken/ homemade curries
fish with veg. roughly about 700kcals per meal. Try not to have too much fat in it though.
Dinner is at 7pm, then nothing or just fruit till I sleep at 11pm.
Exercise: tues/thurs/sat - 10mins of HIIT on bike, 40 mins of weights, 25mins of jogging.
sun: 5 a side football for 90mins.
So basically I want to lose fat, increase muscle but dont really want to lose weight. I have been at constant weight for the last 3 weeks or so and my Body fat scales have come down from 20.9 - 21.2% to the aformentioned 18.7%. However visually my body looks the same.
Any tips or should I just carry on as I am. I should probably eat a bigger lunch and less for dinner however I'm a bit of a foodie as is the missus so it is hard.
3 day split:
Chest and Triceps on Tuesday
Back and Biceps on Thurday
Shoulders and Legs on Saturdays because obvioulsy I have more time at the w/e so apend a bit longer on my legs.
I try to vary the exercises so i wont do the same exercises every tuesday etc but still concentrate on the same muscle groups and I am fairly knackered after the weights and ache a little the next day.
Chest and Triceps on Tuesday
Back and Biceps on Thurday
Shoulders and Legs on Saturdays because obvioulsy I have more time at the w/e so apend a bit longer on my legs.
I try to vary the exercises so i wont do the same exercises every tuesday etc but still concentrate on the same muscle groups and I am fairly knackered after the weights and ache a little the next day.
Personally I don't like to do chest/triceps and back/biceps. By the time I get to my triceps on a chest day they are pretty exhausted, like wise biceps on a back day. I prefer chest/bicep and back/tricep.
If it is working then stick to it.
It seems you have it pretty much nailed, what body % do you want to be at?
If it is working then stick to it.
It seems you have it pretty much nailed, what body % do you want to be at?
Edited by SoapyShowerBoy on Wednesday 24th June 15:32
SoapyShowerBoy said:
Personally I don't like to do chest/triceps and back/biceps. By the time I get to my triceps on a chest day they are pretty exhausted, like wise biceps on a back day. I prefer chest/bicep and back/tricep.
If it is working then stick to it.
It seems you have it pretty much nailed, what body % do you want to be at?
Dont have a target tbh, but just want to lose my moobs and the fat around my middle. If it is working then stick to it.
It seems you have it pretty much nailed, what body % do you want to be at?
Edited by SoapyShowerBoy on Wednesday 24th June 15:32
Never thought about the chest/triceps, back/biceps thing before. I got the program from a personal trainer and he went on the basis of your triceps get a good workout with chest anyway so a couple of addition isolation exercises on the same day would do the trick. I'll try your way starting from today.
Another thought: Am I eating enough? I've just registered on Daily Plate, and it says I should be eating around 1900 calories (Net, after exercise) per day to lose 1.5lbs per week. I just entered the food I am planning to eat for today and it came to 1100kcal net (1568kcal before exercise). I am no diet expert but could I be sending the body into some kind of fat conservation mode. And I dont even wish to lose any more weight!!!
Also I am planning continuing with this exercise plan but havent seen any visual difference in my body shape for the last 4 weeks. In this time I have consumed no alcohol either and have been fairly strict. The only difference I have seen is the Body fat percentage dropping but not sure how accurate those scales are.
Edited by obob on Wednesday 24th June 15:42
In that case it sounds like you have been giving a 3 day split that is a bases for overall toning and a foundation to build on.
Stick to your plan for another 2 weeks, then set about asking your trainer to make things more advance and to up the weights.
Unfortunatly I am not a nutritionist and would hate to give advice about number of Kcals etc, I can only say that I tend to eat around 3-3500 a day with 170-180g of protein (but I'm sure we have different goals) I would however consider a protein shake to supplement your diet too.
Stick to your plan for another 2 weeks, then set about asking your trainer to make things more advance and to up the weights.
Unfortunatly I am not a nutritionist and would hate to give advice about number of Kcals etc, I can only say that I tend to eat around 3-3500 a day with 170-180g of protein (but I'm sure we have different goals) I would however consider a protein shake to supplement your diet too.
SoapyShowerBoy said:
In that case it sounds like you have been giving a 3 day split that is a bases for overall toning and a foundation to build on.
Stick to your plan for another 2 weeks, then set about asking your trainer to make things more advance and to up the weights.
Unfortunatly I am not a nutritionist and would hate to give advice about number of Kcals etc, I can only say that I tend to eat around 3-3500 a day with 170-180g of protein (but I'm sure we have different goals) I would however consider a protein shake to supplement your diet too.
Yeah definately different goals, however when trying to reduce fat in your diet its hard to eat enough to maintain the Kcals. I might try a lean protein shake once a day.Stick to your plan for another 2 weeks, then set about asking your trainer to make things more advance and to up the weights.
Unfortunatly I am not a nutritionist and would hate to give advice about number of Kcals etc, I can only say that I tend to eat around 3-3500 a day with 170-180g of protein (but I'm sure we have different goals) I would however consider a protein shake to supplement your diet too.
A kind PHer put this up on here, it quite a good for chosing which shake you want
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
On another note, 25 minute jog seems a bit of waste! can you not turn that into a HIT run? You could probibly do the same amount of excerise in less time and build your fitness up too, also using HIT on the rower is brilliant.
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
On another note, 25 minute jog seems a bit of waste! can you not turn that into a HIT run? You could probibly do the same amount of excerise in less time and build your fitness up too, also using HIT on the rower is brilliant.
SoapyShowerBoy said:
A kind PHer put this up on here, it quite a good for chosing which shake you want
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
On another note, 25 minute jog seems a bit of waste! can you not turn that into a HIT run? You could probibly do the same amount of excerise in less time and build your fitness up too, also using HIT on the rower is brilliant.
Its at speed 10 on the treadmill, I'v tried doing HIIT after a weights workout but I am usually knackered. I was thinking of slowly upping the speed until my stamina improves and then switch to HIIT. If i was to swap the jog for rowing, say one day a week??? Is there a preferential day to do it on, with the splits as above??http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
On another note, 25 minute jog seems a bit of waste! can you not turn that into a HIT run? You could probibly do the same amount of excerise in less time and build your fitness up too, also using HIT on the rower is brilliant.
With the current split you are working on I would row on your chest/tricep day as you tend to use back/bicep/legs in the row.
2000m is a good bench mark, you could do it in 1 min intervals HIIT training, but it will hurt!
Also it wont take 25 mins, prob around 10 if you do HIIT
2000m is a good bench mark, you could do it in 1 min intervals HIIT training, but it will hurt!
Also it wont take 25 mins, prob around 10 if you do HIIT
Edited by SoapyShowerBoy on Wednesday 24th June 16:20
I would say you need to eat more. What time do you have breakie? i would split your meals out (6 smaller ones) and add more protein/fibre - this will start your metabolism earlier and keep it ticking over all day. Protein also takes longer to digest to keeps energy levels constant.
I started doing a more structured weights/diet a a few months ago with a lots of small meals + protein shakes and split, targeted groups - the weight loss is very slow (1lb per week) bet the muscle gain can be seen - keep at it!
I started doing a more structured weights/diet a a few months ago with a lots of small meals + protein shakes and split, targeted groups - the weight loss is very slow (1lb per week) bet the muscle gain can be seen - keep at it!
That sounds good, TBH I don't want to lose any more weight. Just get rid of my moobs and build a little muscle (Don't want to be huge, just an athletic build).
With the training I am doing, I can see changes to the shape of my arms and shoulders but nothing in the areas I need it most.
I have breakfast at 8am, snack (usually fruit) at about 11am, lunch at 1pm, snack at 3.30pm (usually more fruit) and then dinner at 7pm. Usually at the gym from 4.30 till about 6ish.
Any naturally high in protein, low in fat snacks that I can substitue with the fruit? Preferably ready made as I have enough trouble trying to find time to make my lunch never mind 2 extra snacks per day.
Or should I continue but get a lean protein shake and have it as my afternoon snack once a day??
With the training I am doing, I can see changes to the shape of my arms and shoulders but nothing in the areas I need it most.
I have breakfast at 8am, snack (usually fruit) at about 11am, lunch at 1pm, snack at 3.30pm (usually more fruit) and then dinner at 7pm. Usually at the gym from 4.30 till about 6ish.
Any naturally high in protein, low in fat snacks that I can substitue with the fruit? Preferably ready made as I have enough trouble trying to find time to make my lunch never mind 2 extra snacks per day.
Or should I continue but get a lean protein shake and have it as my afternoon snack once a day??
SoapyShowerBoy said:
Personally I don't like to do chest/triceps and back/biceps. By the time I get to my triceps on a chest day they are pretty exhausted, like wise biceps on a back day. I prefer chest/bicep and back/tricep.
Disagree with your method, although it is personal preference. What you say is correct but by the end of the tris/chest sesh I want to have fatigued the muscles. So what if you can't lift loads with your tris at the end? You're still working the muscle to exhaustion which is surely a good thing.Edited by SoapyShowerBoy on Wednesday 24th June 15:32
To the OP - I really am not surprised you haven't seen much of a change in 4 weeks. 4 weeks is not a long time for you body to change in. For you to see real change, I would say 6 months at least before you look in the mirror and think "yes, I look a lot better than before". My one piece of advice is make sure you really push yourself at the gym, without sacrificing gym. I guarantee when you're on that "last rep" and you feel like you're about to explode, you have one more rep in you. Just give it a go next time, go for that extra rep.
Out of interest, how many reps and sets has your PT put you on for each exercise?
Henry Hawthorne said:
SoapyShowerBoy said:
Personally I don't like to do chest/triceps and back/biceps. By the time I get to my triceps on a chest day they are pretty exhausted, like wise biceps on a back day. I prefer chest/bicep and back/tricep.
Disagree with your method, although it is personal preference. What you say is correct but by the end of the tris/chest sesh I want to have fatigued the muscles. So what if you can't lift loads with your tris at the end? You're still working the muscle to exhaustion which is surely a good thing.Edited by SoapyShowerBoy on Wednesday 24th June 15:32
To the OP - I really am not surprised you haven't seen much of a change in 4 weeks. 4 weeks is not a long time for you body to change in. For you to see real change, I would say 6 months at least before you look in the mirror and think "yes, I look a lot better than before". My one piece of advice is make sure you really push yourself at the gym, without sacrificing gym. I guarantee when you're on that "last rep" and you feel like you're about to explode, you have one more rep in you. Just give it a go next time, go for that extra rep.
Out of interest, how many reps and sets has your PT put you on for each exercise?
Your split is ok.
I personally dont like training chest with bi`s, and back and tri`s, because for example in your split, my bi`s would end up letting me down on the back day, on things like rows and pull downs.
One adjustment i would make though, for a beginer i dont really see the need to split shoulders from chest, its fine to do if when youve added some size, you find shoulders to be a lagging bodypart, but at the early stages of training, i dont think its needed.
So, onto your training.
Keep it simple. Big compound movements.
I`d do a split like this.
Teusday - Squats, front or back, followed by deadlifts, and some shrugs to finish.
Thursday - Chest and shoulders, i`d start with flat bench, couple of sets of shoulder press, db or bb, then some close grip bench or push downs to finish with.
Saturday - back, go for a mixture of rows, db and bb, pull downs, and finish with some bicep work.
Rep scheme, something like 5x5 is good for the compound movements, good mixture of strength and size, try to mix it up, occasionally doing 3x8, or 3x3 or similar.
Then just pump sets on the isolation exercises.
With your diet, dont cut out fat, fat doesnt make you fat. Concentrate on calories and carbs for weight loss or gain.
Just monitor your intake, monitor your weight, weight yourself once a week, same time, same day, same conditions, and adjust your intake acordingly. Also a good idea to take measurements say, once every 2-4 weeks, again, under the same conditions.
Thats a little more than i intended to write
Hope your gain something from reading it.
I personally dont like training chest with bi`s, and back and tri`s, because for example in your split, my bi`s would end up letting me down on the back day, on things like rows and pull downs.
One adjustment i would make though, for a beginer i dont really see the need to split shoulders from chest, its fine to do if when youve added some size, you find shoulders to be a lagging bodypart, but at the early stages of training, i dont think its needed.
So, onto your training.
Keep it simple. Big compound movements.
I`d do a split like this.
Teusday - Squats, front or back, followed by deadlifts, and some shrugs to finish.
Thursday - Chest and shoulders, i`d start with flat bench, couple of sets of shoulder press, db or bb, then some close grip bench or push downs to finish with.
Saturday - back, go for a mixture of rows, db and bb, pull downs, and finish with some bicep work.
Rep scheme, something like 5x5 is good for the compound movements, good mixture of strength and size, try to mix it up, occasionally doing 3x8, or 3x3 or similar.
Then just pump sets on the isolation exercises.
With your diet, dont cut out fat, fat doesnt make you fat. Concentrate on calories and carbs for weight loss or gain.
Just monitor your intake, monitor your weight, weight yourself once a week, same time, same day, same conditions, and adjust your intake acordingly. Also a good idea to take measurements say, once every 2-4 weeks, again, under the same conditions.
Thats a little more than i intended to write
Hope your gain something from reading it.obob said:
Henry Hawthorne said:
SoapyShowerBoy said:
Personally I don't like to do chest/triceps and back/biceps. By the time I get to my triceps on a chest day they are pretty exhausted, like wise biceps on a back day. I prefer chest/bicep and back/tricep.
Disagree with your method, although it is personal preference. What you say is correct but by the end of the tris/chest sesh I want to have fatigued the muscles. So what if you can't lift loads with your tris at the end? You're still working the muscle to exhaustion which is surely a good thing.Edited by SoapyShowerBoy on Wednesday 24th June 15:32
To the OP - I really am not surprised you haven't seen much of a change in 4 weeks. 4 weeks is not a long time for you body to change in. For you to see real change, I would say 6 months at least before you look in the mirror and think "yes, I look a lot better than before". My one piece of advice is make sure you really push yourself at the gym, without sacrificing gym. I guarantee when you're on that "last rep" and you feel like you're about to explode, you have one more rep in you. Just give it a go next time, go for that extra rep.
Out of interest, how many reps and sets has your PT put you on for each exercise?
Personally (and please remember this is ALL personal to each person - I'm not telling you what to do, I'm telling what I do/have done) for a three day week I would do a full body workout.
Since starting training in May 08, I have put on 2 stone in healthy mass. At my peak weight I had put on 2.5 but in the past 8 weeks I have lost that half stone of fat.
Anyway, to the workout. I have only actually started splits this week as I move to a four day gym week as I feel I'm plateauing. I briefly did them at the start of my workout as everyone sees bodybuilders and tries to work out like them. However, I decided for three days FB was best. My routine was as follows:
Monday - Shoulder press, bench press, BB row, Squats
Weds - Shoulder press, bench press, chins, lunges
Fri - BB row, bench press, chins, deadlifts
I do bench press three times as it's my favourite exercise. You can mix it up also. For example, one day incline bench, one day flat, one day decline. For BB row, you can maybe do DB row on the bench one sesh. Shoulder press - do it with dumbells for one day. The most important exercises in my this routine are chins, squats and deadlifts. These are real compound exercises which do your whole body. They're the hardest, but the most rewarding.
On the diet front, you need to have a low carb high protein diet if you're looking to cut fat and build muscle. I'd personally recommend you buy Muscle Chow by Gregg Avedon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/MENS-HEALTH-MUSCLE-CHOW-Muscles/dp/1594865485) even if you only read the part about generally dieting and don't use any of the recipes. It really is a great book.
I've probably missed something so just ask me more Qs if you have any...
Henry Hawthorne said:
To the OP - I really am not surprised you haven't seen much of a change in 4 weeks. 4 weeks is not a long time for you body to change in. For you to see real change, I would say 6 months at least before you look in the mirror and think "yes, I look a lot better than before".
Really? I am 38 and started to see a little middle age spread, belt was getting so tight I had to stop using it. I joined a gym about 5 weeks ago, been going twice a week (hour sessions) and maybe a cycle ride at the weekend. I asked for a program that mixed cardio and weights to shift the small beer gut and get my shoulders and arms back into shape so I can get back into endurance karting.
I do 10 mins HIIT on a cross trainer, loose weights (combination of arms, chest, sholders, legs) then 10 mins HIIT cycling. I have noticed the difference, I can now wear my belt and my arms are bigger and more defined. My forearms are a lot stronger and my grip has improved. I just did a 8 1/2 mins 2000 meters row on level 5.
Oh and I weigh 80kg the same as I did 8 years ago.
Cotty said:
Henry Hawthorne said:
To the OP - I really am not surprised you haven't seen much of a change in 4 weeks. 4 weeks is not a long time for you body to change in. For you to see real change, I would say 6 months at least before you look in the mirror and think "yes, I look a lot better than before".
Really? I am 38 and started to see a little middle age spread, belt was getting so tight I had to stop using it. I joined a gym about 5 weeks ago, been going twice a week (hour sessions) and maybe a cycle ride at the weekend. I asked for a program that mixed cardio and weights to shift the small beer gut and get my shoulders and arms back into shape so I can get back into endurance karting.
I do 10 mins HIIT on a cross trainer, loose weights (combination of arms, chest, sholders, legs) then 10 mins HIIT cycling. I have noticed the difference, I can now wear my belt and my arms are bigger and more defined. My forearms are a lot stronger and my grip has improved. I just did a 8 1/2 mins 2000 meters row on level 5.
Oh and I weigh 80kg the same as I did 8 years ago.
Henry Hawthorne said:
SoapyShowerBoy said:
Personally I don't like to do chest/triceps and back/biceps. By the time I get to my triceps on a chest day they are pretty exhausted, like wise biceps on a back day. I prefer chest/bicep and back/tricep.
Disagree with your method, although it is personal preference. What you say is correct but by the end of the tris/chest sesh I want to have fatigued the muscles. So what if you can't lift loads with your tris at the end? You're still working the muscle to exhaustion which is surely a good thing.Edited by SoapyShowerBoy on Wednesday 24th June 15:32
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